Amazon Fire TV

[givenall]

Does it work in Bangkok? Anyone used the device to watch TV here?

[Crossy]

Nope.

From the Amazon sales page:-

If you're traveling with Amazon Fire TV, you can access apps and games you've downloaded to your device.

With a U.S. address and credit card, you'll also be able to purchase new apps and games for Fire TV while you are abroad.

To access Amazon Instant Video movies and TV shows, you must be physically present in the U.S. and have a U.S. billing address. Many third-party services and media apps are not available outside the U.S.

It MAY work through a VPN to the US (which would need to be installed on your router).

[Chicog]

Same as the Apple TV, very little available for free.

Better with XBMC on a Minix or a Matricom.

[givenall]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Same as the Apple TV, very little available for free.

Better with XBMC on a Minix or a Matricom.

Where to buy XBMC box

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I don't have a Fire here.

But... as long as you're using it on conjunction with a router-based VPN service offering a U.S. server address, there's no reason it shouldn't work here the same as in the U.S.

See various users comments on this XDA forum:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2797005

Including:

There is a thread on reddit that explains both using the OpenVPN client directly on FireTV or split-routing setup.

Here is the link to use the OpenVPN client natively on FireTV:
reddit.com/r/fireTV/comments/2b4hlh/finally_got_vpn_working/

Here is the link to use OpenVPN on the router and selectively route traffic over the tunnel for the FireTV:
reddit.com/r/fireTV/comments/2b4hlh/finally_got_vpn_working/cjwup38

I'm sure you can adapt the instructions to suit dd-wrt. And if you can't, maybe you should switch over to OpenWRT.

[phil2]

You could just install XBMC on your PC or notebook.

[Chicog]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Same as the Apple TV, very little available for free.

Better with XBMC on a Minix or a Matricom.

Where to buy XBMC box

Panthip, Fortune, etc. etc.

[Turkleton]

Panthip, Fortune, etc. etc.

Have you personally, really seen Minix (X8) Tv boxes at Fortune/Pantip/etc. etc.?

Details please.

Or is it just a guess?

[worgeordie]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Same as the Apple TV, very little available for free.

Better with XBMC on a Minix or a Matricom.

Where to buy XBMC box

Lazada.co.th have android boxes for sale,they can send C.O.D so

you are not risking anything,most will have XMBC installed,and you

can add more apps to watch lots of other stuff, prices from 2,500THB.

regards Worgeordie

[worgeordie]

Panthip, Fortune, etc. etc.

Have you personally, really seen Minix (X8) Tv boxes at Fortune/Pantip/etc. etc.?

Details please.

Or is it just a guess?

Lazada.co.th have Minix x8 in stock, they were 7or 8K THB,(forgot exactly)

regards worgeordie

[AJBangkok]

Panthip, Fortune, etc. etc.

Have you personally, really seen Minix (X8) Tv boxes at Fortune/Pantip/etc. etc.?

Details please.

Or is it just a guess?

I bought my minix x8 at pantip 4th floor in the ally that leads to the front elevator. Another guy on the forum bought his at fortune town so they do sell them here. My cost was 5,000 with a free air remote, his was 4700 if I remember correctly. That was a few months ago so the price may be lower now

[Turkleton]

I bought my minix x8 at pantip 4th floor in the ally that leads to the front elevator. Another guy on the forum bought his at fortune town so they do sell them here. My cost was 5,000 with a free air remote, his was 4700 if I remember correctly. That was a few months ago so the price may be lower now

Thanks.

Fortune is on my list for this weekend

Lazada.co.th have Minix x8 in stock, they were 7or 8K THB,(forgot exactly)

I have not found even a single dealer on Lazada who has them in stock.

Only "available" without any delivery time.

Edited September 27, 2014 by Turkleton

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Re the Amazon Fire TV boxes, there's an added benefit now, at least for U.S. folks or those who can pretend to be.

In the past month or so, Sony has launched an entirely online cable TV service called Sony Playstation Vue that gives customers, over the internet, what amounts to a basic cable TV package of channels. Depending on the home address/city involved, the package will either run $40 a month including local OTA channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, etc), or $30 a month with the cable channels but not OTA channels.

The connection with the Amazon Fire TV boxes is, apparently there is a Playstation Vue app for the Amazon Fire TV boxes that allows you to subscribe to and watch the Playstation Vue service over the Amazon Fire TV device, although probably here, it would require adding a router based VPN service to provide a U.S. IP address to the box. That's a necessary element because, other than that, the Playstation Vue service only is available over Sony Playstation and IOS devices -- no Android or even web/PC interface at least for the present.

In terms of online/virtual U.S. cable TV, the Sony service offers more channels at a higher price compared to competitor Sling TV, which offers a smaller package of cable only channels for $20 a month as their basic package. Sling, however, works on pretty much everything, including Android devices via an app and Windows PCs via a Windows app.

Edited April 7, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[IMHO]

The FIreTV is excellent hardware. IMHO, unrivalled quality, especially the remote, by any other Android box.

You won't be able to watch any of the Amazon prime content it displays all over the homescreen, but you can watch Netflix on it in 1080P & 4K resolution (other Android boxes are limited to 720P), and you can get Dolby Digital and DTS decoding without paying for any extras. Of course, you can sideload any Android APK's that are not available within Amazon app store - like XBMC/Kodi, iLIkeHD, and VPN's for example.

Forgetting about the Amazon content that's not available in TH officially yet - it's still the best overall Android box on the market, IMHO, due to it's ability to support 1080P/4K Netflix, it's support for DTS audio, and it's excellent remote.

[IMHO]

I don't have a Fire here.

But... as long as you're using it on conjunction with a router-based VPN service offering a U.S. server address, there's no reason it shouldn't work here the same as in the U.S.

See various users comments on this XDA forum:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2797005

Including:

There is a thread on reddit that explains both using the OpenVPN client directly on FireTV or split-routing setup.

Here is the link to use the OpenVPN client natively on FireTV:

reddit.com/r/fireTV/comments/2b4hlh/finally_got_vpn_working/

Here is the link to use OpenVPN on the router and selectively route traffic over the tunnel for the FireTV:

reddit.com/r/fireTV/comments/2b4hlh/finally_got_vpn_working/cjwup38

I'm sure you can adapt the instructions to suit dd-wrt. And if you can't, maybe you should switch over to OpenWRT.

You don't necessarily need a router based VPN - just choose one that has an Android app you can sideload onto it.

You can sideload any Android APK onto FireTV: http://sideloadfiretv.com/

Edited April 8, 2016 by IMHO

[Chicog]

The FIreTV is excellent hardware. IMHO, unrivalled quality, especially the remote, by any other Android box.

A lot of people think the NVidia Shield is the canine's testicles these days.

Edited April 8, 2016 by Chicog

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

fwiw, Amazon is having a sale right now on the latest Fire TV box... $85 instead of the regular $99 price.

I ordered one last night. Plan to see how it works with the new Playstation Vue online cable TV service.

I read a lot of the Fire TV box reviews on the Amazon site last night from people using it with the Playstation Vue app, and they pretty much were uniformly high in its praise of the combo together. The Fire TV stick also works in theory, but those who have used it with the Playstation Vue app tend it say it's clunky, slow and has a tendency to freeze. Better to go with the box for that intended use.

And as I noted above, for whatever inexplicable reason, Sony thus far has not made available Playstation Vue apps that work either on regular Android devices or Windows PCs/the web. Perhaps in the future, but right now, it's mostly Playstation devices, Fire TV and IOS devices only.

Edited April 8, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

You don't necessarily need a router based VPN - just choose one that has an Android app you can sideload onto it.

You can sideload any Android APK onto FireTV: http://sideloadfiretv.com/

I have a VPN service that has a quite good Android app. But as the website you linked to above notes, it appears one question re sideloading for the Fire TV box is whether any particular Android app will work on it given that it doesn't have a touch-screen interface.

Amazon has given users the ability to sideload .APK files to their Fire TV. This means you can sideload Android apps to your Fire TV. However, since the Fire TV does not support touch screen capabilities, only specific apps will actually work properly on the device. Here is a list, including download files, of the top apps that you should sideload to your Amazon Fire TV. Please read the tutorial here on how to sideload apps to your Amazon Fire TV.

http://sideloadfiretv.com/top-apps-to-sideload-to-your-amazon-fire-tv/

[IMHO]

You don't necessarily need a router based VPN - just choose one that has an Android app you can sideload onto it.

You can sideload any Android APK onto FireTV: http://sideloadfiretv.com/

I have a VPN service that has a quite good Android app. But as the website you linked to above notes, it appears one question re sideloading for the Fire TV box is whether any particular Android app will work on it given that it doesn't have a touch-screen interface.

Amazon has given users the ability to sideload .APK files to their Fire TV. This means you can sideload Android apps to your Fire TV. However, since the Fire TV does not support touch screen capabilities, only specific apps will actually work properly on the device. Here is a list, including download files, of the top apps that you should sideload to your Amazon Fire TV. Please read the tutorial here on how to sideload apps to your Amazon Fire TV.

http://sideloadfiretv.com/top-apps-to-sideload-to-your-amazon-fire-tv/

I use a wireless keyboard with integrated touchpad, hasn't let me down let with any apps on FireTV so far.

I can also confirm that the Ghost and Express VPN apps/services work fine on it.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Thanks... Good to know.

[2fishin2]

The FIreTV is excellent hardware. IMHO, unrivalled quality, especially the remote, by any other Android box.

A lot of people think the NVidia Shield is the canine's testicles these days.

Agree thats a bold statement to say its "unrivalled". Dont think that is possible.

[IMHO]

The FIreTV is excellent hardware. IMHO, unrivalled quality, especially the remote, by any other Android box.

A lot of people think the NVidia Shield is the canine's testicles these days.

Agree thats a bold statement to say its "unrivalled". Dont think that is possible.

OK, sure, good point.

Let me rephrase:

Unrivalled for 4000 Baht, or even 5K, 6K or 7K Baht if buying boxes locally

Seriously though, compared to the remotes that come with most of the Chinese Android boxes, the FireTV remote is pure Rolls Royce. A properly solid thing, not infrared, great buttons, and "it just works"

Did I mention it does Netflix in 1080P & 4K where other boxes only do 720P, and that it also supports DTS out of the box?

Edited April 8, 2016 by IMHO

[2fishin2]

Minix neo 8 plus 4900 fortune town bkk

http://www.iplus-studio.net

Minix best box with best support in class. Routine bios updates, support forum. What does your amazon box have?

[Chicog]

The FIreTV is excellent hardware. IMHO, unrivalled quality, especially the remote, by any other Android box.

A lot of people think the NVidia Shield is the canine's testicles these days.

Agree thats a bold statement to say its "unrivalled". Dont think that is possible.

OK, sure, good point.

Let me rephrase:

Unrivalled for 4000 Baht, or even 5K, 6K or 7K Baht if buying boxes locally

Seriously though, compared to the remotes that come with most of the Chinese Android boxes, the FireTV remote is pure Rolls Royce. A properly solid thing, not infrared, great buttons, and "it just works"

Did I mention it does Netflix in 1080P & 4K where other boxes only do 720P, and that it also supports DTS out of the box?

Looking at the specs I'd say the NVidia is a better box, but the Fire TV is better value.

https://shield.nvidia.com/android-tv/shield-androidtv-vs-appletv-vs-roku-vs-firetv

[IMHO]

Looking at the specs I'd say the NVidia is a better box, but the Fire TV is better value.

https://shield.nvidia.com/android-tv/shield-androidtv-vs-appletv-vs-roku-vs-firetv

Yeah sure, but the point is, it's completely fluid even at 4K - so what's the use of any processing power overhead if it's already doing the job superbly? Unless you want to play games on the thing I suppose. I use my PS4 for that though

[2fishin2]

Looking at the specs I'd say the NVidia is a better box, but the Fire TV is better value.

https://shield.nvidia.com/android-tv/shield-androidtv-vs-appletv-vs-roku-vs-firetv

Yeah sure, but the point is, it's completely fluid even at 4K - so what's the use of any processing power overhead if it's already doing the job superbly? Unless you want to play games on the thing I suppose. I use my PS4 for that though

Thats not what you said originally. I think we are saying is that while the Fire stick/ box is ok, there are much better ones around, in same price range.

Point to make is with these Amazon devices, there is no support at all for them after they are sold. Where both Minix and NVidia has a large support network.

Edited April 9, 2016 by 2fishin2

[Chicog]

Looking at the specs I'd say the NVidia is a better box, but the Fire TV is better value.

https://shield.nvidia.com/android-tv/shield-androidtv-vs-appletv-vs-roku-vs-firetv

Yeah sure, but the point is, it's completely fluid even at 4K - so what's the use of any processing power overhead if it's already doing the job superbly? Unless you want to play games on the thing I suppose. I use my PS4 for that though

But it isn't completely fluid 4K at 60 FTPS is it?

[IMHO]

Looking at the specs I'd say the NVidia is a better box, but the Fire TV is better value.

https://shield.nvidia.com/android-tv/shield-androidtv-vs-appletv-vs-roku-vs-firetv

Yeah sure, but the point is, it's completely fluid even at 4K - so what's the use of any processing power overhead if it's already doing the job superbly? Unless you want to play games on the thing I suppose. I use my PS4 for that though

But it isn't completely fluid 4K at 60 FTPS is it?

No idea - no such streaming content exists

[IMHO]

Looking at the specs I'd say the NVidia is a better box, but the Fire TV is better value.

https://shield.nvidia.com/android-tv/shield-androidtv-vs-appletv-vs-roku-vs-firetv

Yeah sure, but the point is, it's completely fluid even at 4K - so what's the use of any processing power overhead if it's already doing the job superbly? Unless you want to play games on the thing I suppose. I use my PS4 for that though

Thats not what you said originally. I think we are saying is that while the Fire stick/ box is ok, there are much better ones around, in same price range.

Point to make is with these Amazon devices, there is no support at all for them after they are sold. Where both Minix and NVidia has a large support network.

Let me finish your last sentence for you

.... in other countries.

Show me where you can buy the Nvidia for a reasonable price, and I'll buy one and post a full comparison - but don't try to convince me to pay 12K Baht for a media streamer please, that's just nuts.

[2fishin2]

http://www.iplus-studio.net

Not sure if they have the nvidia machine but they do have minix windows and android versions. These devices are much more than media streamers. If thats all you want then just get a fire stick.